Police say that while the suspect was fleeing he produced what looked like a Glock pistol from “the front of his body”and pointed it at the officers. One of the Utica Police officers fired one shot and Mway was mortally wounded.Still from Body Camera Video Utica PD
A Utica, New York, Police officer fatally shot a fleeing 13-year-old last week after the boy fled and reportedly pointed a replica weapon at the pursuing officer.
The 13-year-old has been identified as Nyah Mway by officials.
On the night of June 28, three officers from the Utica Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit were “proactively” patrolling the West Utica area to assist the Criminal Investigations Division with investigations of recent robberies. The suspects were described as Asian males who brandished a black firearm and “forcibly demanded and stole property from victims,” the department said in a Facebook statement.
“Based on the listed identifying factors from the robbery, officers approached Nyah Mway and the other juvenile as they matched the robbery suspects’ descriptions and were in the immediate vicinity of the previous robbery at nearly the same time of day,” the department said.
When the officers stopped Mway and went to search him, he ran away. An officer pursued.
Police say that while the suspect was fleeing he produced what looked like a Glock pistol from “the front of his body”and pointed it at the officers. One of the officers fired one shot and Mway was mortally wounded.
It was discovered after the shooting that the “Glock” was a black realistic-looking pellet gun.
The shooting is being investigated by the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations.
The officers involved in the incident are: Officer Patrick Husnay, a six-year veteran of the Utica Police Department; Bryce Patterson, a four-year veteran; and Andrew Citriniti a two-and-a-half-year veteran who previously served with the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.
“Officer Husnay is the officer that fired his duty weapon striking the juvenile,” the department said.
